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Call the Equine Veterinary Nurse!

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Project-nurse-initiative

Research project looks at expanding the roles of veterinary nurses to support career progression and benefit clients

One of the UK’s leading veterinary groups, VetPartners, has launched a new initiative, known as Project NURSE, to support registered equine veterinary nurses (RVNs) in their work and help them develop their careers. Having received approval from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons ethics board, the project is particularly aimed at equine RVNs who want to be more hands-on in their work and put their full nursing skill set into practice.

The first phase of research behind Project NURSE, which stands for Nurturing and Utilising REVN Skills and Experience, looked at how much horse owners understood about the role and skills of RVNs and whether they would be open to receiving client-facing veterinary nursing services. The results showed the following responses from owners…

  • 87% were comfortable with an RVN attending their horse for some procedures under the direction of a vet
  • 90% said they would be ‘extremely’ or ‘somewhat’ comfortable with RVN visits for bandaging and suture removal
  • 67% were open to equine weight clinics run by nurses
  • 61% were interested in RVN-run rehabilitation clinics
  • 48% showed interest in behaviour clinics given by RVNs

A second phase of Project NURSE is due to launch in August during which RVNs will be asked about the skills they use and the ways in which they would like their careers to develop.

Leader of the project and veterinary nurse Philippa Pritchard said, “It is encouraging that survey respondents gave positive feedback about their experiences with veterinary nurses and told us they are receptive to nurses carrying out more yard visits under the direction of a vet.

“Equine nurses go through a lot of training but typically provide fewer client-facing services than their small-animal colleagues and this means that some of them may feel limited in their role. We feel there is an opportunity to expand the range of activities to better utilise their skills through providing ambulatory nursing services and running nurse clinics on client premises.

“Our next steps will be to explore equine nurses’ goals for career development, as well as taking on board the needs and any concerns of the wider equine clinical team to help us successfully introduce these services.”

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